Selling a house privately - Any tips?

courtjester

It is important to understand that the OFT have made no new legal ruling (that's not their job) and their guidance on 'property retailers' referred to in the thread above does not change the law - it merely attempts to interpret the application of an old law, Estate Agents Act 1979 or EAA1979, which pre-dated the internet, to a modern practice - i.e advertising homes over the internet.

The existing law is still the EAA1979 and nothing has changed regarding what the law says is 'estate agency work'.

If you read the OFT's guidance carefully, you will see that this really only states the obvious, namely that if a company carries out estate agency work, but says they are not estate agents, they will be misleading people. Well of course.

It does NOT say that online "property retailers" (the OFT's rather misguided term) - or rather online property *advertising* sites - are conducting estate agency. They confirm that it is the activity which determines if estate agency work is provided or not, restating the old law.

The OFT set out a useful list of possible activities as a guide to the type of work which might be viewed as agency.

The only 'new' part of the guidance is the caution which amounts to saying if you want to advertise privately alongside an agent, be careful that you CHOOSE your property site carefully and CHECK that they don't carry out agency activities.

The OFT and Trading Standards are currently conducting a review of property websites, activities and services up and down the country (of which they claim there to be 200 or more offering online property marketing) including unannounced visits by Trading Standards officers and most services will be reviewed this year for compliance with advertising regulations (in particular misleading advertising regarding agency activities).

As such, the consumer is open to check with Trading Standards whether any particular company has been given a 'clean bill of health' as far as the OFT's guidance is concerned.

The Little House Company *has* been reviewed by the OFT and Trading Standards who have confirmed that their service does not contravene agency activities and hence, can be used alongside an estate agent sole agency agreement without risk. They have in place a "Home Authority" agreement with the TS office responsible for their head office location (Dorset) which can be checked directly. This also enables any TS office around the country to refer to the 'Home Authority' office regarding any complaint made about their service in any other area.

On the subject of for sale signs, the OFT included in their list of what an agent does - "erection of a for sale sign which carries the company number" - it is the question of advertising a *corporate* number on the sign that is the problem, NOT the provision of the sign itself. The Little House Company signs are customised with the vendors number, not their own, which is fine.

Both the law and the OFT are clear that you CAN advertise privately alongside an estate agent and will NOT be liable to pay agents commission under a Sole Agency agreement if you find your buyer yourself using appropriate private advertising. The agent is only entitled to commission if they find the buyer and bring about the sale of the property to the buyer they introduce. A sole agency means that there can only be one agent, but does not prevent the use of a newspaper or (professionally run) property website to advertise in addition.

Simply be careful to check that the online property service chosen is correctly structured and is a professional established company rather than a one-person back-bedroom job.

WHICH? The Consumers Association have more information at their "Moveit!" campaign site: http://www.which.net/moveit

See the "Take Control page" for selling privately:
http://www.which.net/moveit/takecontrol/diy/03sellingonline.html

See the "Your Stories page" for sole agency:
http://www.which.net/moveit/stories/contracts.html

Theodorou

I have found a great website called https://www.solohomes.co.uk they have just launched in the London area and are offering a free Bronze package service to all there new customers.

It allows you to create a user account and edit your property details your self and even upload images, very easy to use!!

Check them out https://www.solohomes.co.uk

courtjester

Solohomes - looks like a classic example of a property website that the OFT would be concerned about consumers using alongside an agent...!

Nicola82

Hi, i found seeling privately was great, i recently signd on with eMoove, i found my house sold fairly quick and i had no problems using the site.

They are also giving a free listing with HotPropertys.co.uk at the moment aswel.
I recomenrd u try the site and see how you get on!

http://www.emoove.com

Regards,

Nicola

bribri_2

Whilst everyone has to start somewhere, emoove just isn't up to it.
I put in the postcode of where I am selling and no other houses were on it.
I then put in the post code of where I want to move to and again no results. Even when expanded to 5 miles and I didn't use any other criteria.

sham63

I think it is safe to assume that the post by Nicola82 is good ol' SPAM.

Madmel

Wanted to add that we sold privately last year. We had the EAs through the door, but none of them really impressed me, least of all their fees :eek:

Our house was on a 12 year old estate, close to the local police HQ and a large industrial estate. People were always driving by, looking at properties, so we put a big For Sale sign in the window and took out an ad in the local paper. It cost £56 for 6 days (no paper on Sundays) including a photo. It took a bit of time (3 months) but we sold for almost the asking price and saved the £5k of EA fees. I had quite a lot of chasing to do, especially towards the end, but it all went well.

I wouldn't hesitate to try yourself - what have you got to lose?!

courtjester

For sale signs are really effective, even in cul-de-sacs - this is why estate agents do everything they can to have one installed at your home.

Most companies believe that 40-50% of all viewings derive from drive or walk-bys of signs, not forgetting that having a sign outside your home means you attract the attention of all buyers visiting other property for sale in your street, so benefiting free from the marketing that agents are doing for their other clients.

There are plenty of people that for some reason just won't have a sign, some kind of perverse reasoning that they don't want to help their agent with the marketing

Everyone should seriously consider having their OWN sign when selling, not the agents - it is such an important tool, why give an agent thousands in commission when for a few pounds you can erect your own and deal with buyers direct?

Frankandann

Several years ago I sold a house privately by probably the cheapest method at the time. I put a brief advert (house-size,area,rough price etc) in the local paper with a box no. That cost about a tenner. In the meantime I went round measuring rooms and wrote down every detail possible producing a couple of a4 printed pages which I printed off.After collecting the replies, about a dozen, I posted the details to them with my telephone no. Two followed up with a viewing and both offered the asking price which I was able to up slightly by playing one against the other. The whole thing cost me about £25 and I was very impressed with myself. Obviously though times have moved on and the format may not sit as comfortably these days.

courtjester

Frankandann - The format may have moved on, with the internet replacing local press as the main medium for home-selling, online property advertising allows much more information to be presented more professionally and reaches a much bigger audience, but the principle remains - it is simple and very *inexpensive* to market a home yourself, you retain full control of the sale and above all you need no special skills despite agents trying to tell you otherwise.

The key element is the asking price, but even this is not rocket science as it is pretty straightforward (and free) to gather on and off-line research into prices in the local area to establish a sensible range (most people have a pretty good idea of their home's worth anyway) - bearing in mind that there is no scientifically correct price for any property and it largely depends on what buyers are prepared to pay at any time and the vendors situation in needing (or not needing) to sell.